Manchester City return from the final international break of 2025 to face Newcastle United in the Premier League.
The Blues are fresh off the back of a resounding victory against Liverpool before the break, whilst Eddie Howe’s Newcastle have had an under par start to the season after losing star man Aleksander Isak to Liverpool on deadline day.
Here are five things to look out for at St James’s Park:
The battle of the two big strikers
Arguably the best player on both sides this season has been the big
centre forward, who’s scored the vast majority of their team’s goals of late.
Erling Haaland made it a sensational 32 goals for club and country already this season with braces against Estonia and Italy for Norway in the international break, booking his side a place in the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
Nick Woltemade, meanwhile, has had big shoes to fill after Isak’s departure but has enjoyed a good start to life at the Magpies, with four goals in eight Premier League matches so far and three goals for Germany in two games last week.
Whichever of Haaland and Woltemade, who are 6 ‘5 and 6’ 6 inches tall respectively, gets the better of the opportunities and is the most clinical will probably play a decisive role to the end result.
City players on a high after World Cup qualification
Every City player, except for Gianluigi Donnarumma, will already be looking ahead to the World Cup this summer after their nation secured qualification in the international break.
Not every player has their space guaranteed (Nico Gonzalez for example is yet to make his Spain debut) but even the likes of Abdukodir Khusanov with Uzbekistan and Rayan Ait-Nouri with Algeria are set to fly to the tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada in the summer.
Donnarumma and Italy still need to go through qualification, where they’ll face Northern Ireland in the semi final and potentially either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina in the final of the play offs.
The entirety of the squad knowing that there’s a chance of playing at the World Cup this summer will give confidence and motivation for the players to bring their A-game from their countries back to City for the rest of the season.
A raucous home atmosphere
It’s been a poor season so far for Newcastle, who seem to be struggling in Isak’s absence and are overwhelmed in midfield more often than last campaign.
The atmosphere at St James’s Park, however, remains one of the best in the Premier League, and it’ll be an unsettling place for City to go.
There’s nothing the Geordies love more than a crunching tackle, and with Joelinton set to return to the team and be partnered in midfield with Bruno Guimaraes, they’ll have a bit of extra bite in the centre of the park.
The Blues have been better this season at exploiting space left by teams, particularly with Haaland in the form he’s in, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a more balanced approach of old where we see City aim to take the sting out of the game with a death by 1000 passes approach, to subdue the Newcastle crowd and tire out the team.
Newcastle’s fast wide forwards
None of Newcastle’s winger options have really stood out this season, but their pace in the final third can cause City’s fullbacks issues.
Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly are the two most likely options to start on the outside of the back four, and whilst both have been amazing recently, they’re still attacking midfielders by trade and can potentially be breached especially when caught venturing forward.
Anthony Gordon hasn’t been great of late and has struggled with injuries, but could return against City. In his absence, Harvey Barnes can frustrate but he’s also a good finisher and has a wonder goal in him.
On the other flank, Jacob Murphy enjoyed a good campaign last season and was a big part of the run to winning the Carabao Cup for Newcastle last year, whilst new signing Anthony Elanga shone for Nottingham Forest last year and is still finding his feet at his new club.
A more transitional game for Newcastle will particularly highlight the strengths of these players, so I expect Eddie Howe to base his game plan off finding his wingers in space.
A high scoring match
Both of these sides don’t have perfect defences, and the occasion under the lights in the North East could lead to an exciting game.
City are still affected by Rodri’s absence, whilst Newcastle will be missing Dan Burn, and Tino Livramento and Gordon will be doubts.
Both sides are capable of causing issues yet vulnerable themselves, which always causes an exciting and high scoring affair.
